I learned a lot this past year about who I am and it brought me to this humbling place of being aware of time.

I think it was last week that Grace started walking.

I was holding Max the other day on my hip and he was so chunky and snuggly and little.

Ella was being born just yesterday. I sang her a lullaby and she fit in my arms, just yesterday. Wasn’t it?

There are days when I would not look up from my computer for hours. The whole world was going on around me and my children were growing up and becoming and I was just there, present, but so often unaware. And then all of a sudden I look up and Grace is boney and she has a boyfriend and point shoes, and she sits in the front seat of the car texting with her IPod. Gosh, Max is so tall and skinny. And all of a sudden he knows who he is and who he isn’t and I am discovering that he is one of the smartest people I know, and the funniest. And Ella’s face has lost the baby in it and she sings like a super star and there’s a bunch of stuff that is babyish to her now. And she doesn’t want to wear dresses so much. How much longer will she giggle like that?

A hundred years doesn’t seem long enough all of a sudden. What if we have less? We can never know. So I wish for you what I wish for me this year: that you are able to stop once in a while and take note of where you are and what is important, who is important. That you know what your priorities are and you stay committed to them. I hope for you a year of blowing off the bad days and embracing the good, a year of life organized- not as in your files are all in place but that your mind is in place and you make choices every minute fully aware of what is important. A year of making mistakes, learning from them, growing and making them work for you, a year of letting go of an attachment to perfection and learning to feel success even inside failure, a year of finding joy in small things- this I wish for you.

Make it a hundred years.

And I dare you not want to seize time when you listen to this song.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/100-years/id187457319?i=187457332

This is our Advent Calendar, best thing I bought all year. I put notes in each sack that had things like, “Write a letter to a soldier and send a care package,” or “Tell your brother and sister one thing you really admire about them.” And the note corresponded with things we were doing on that day. We stayed at The Mount WAshington one weekend so the note that morning was, “Leave a note for the housekeeper wishing her a Merry Christmas and thanking her for doing such a good job on the room.” I think my kids were a little disappointed that there wasn’t a gift but they still loved it. Every morning they would get up together and go downstairs and read the note for that day. They were forced to focus on others this season and to be thankful for what they have. Awesome. I bought The Advent Calendar on Etsy here.

Then like superstars we had a fancy dinner and then saw The Boston Pops. SO Christmas-y! New tradition.

Then a tour of the best lights in town

Then back to the hotel

And then we exchanged gifts with our very good friends

And then the next morning, on to The Mount Washington Resort

Then this beauty of a shot (IPhone pic) is us in the swimming pool. OUTSIDE. It was 3. The only reason to do this is just to be able to say you did. There is no other reason.

Then a game of Headbandz. I don’t remember much about that part except that I was warm. I wasn’t sure that I would be warm again after that. Ever.

And then the end to the magical weekend. Sad to see it go. Thankful it happened. Night night!

Grace did not tell me she had this rather big part in the party scene. You can imagine my surprise when I saw it. The surprise included tears. Every. single. performance. This was also her first performance on pointe.